


Torched

by Welsper



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-01 06:42:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18795043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welsper/pseuds/Welsper
Summary: “What you changed all those years, can you give it back? Can you return the memories of that day?”“Is that what you truly want? They are painful memories. And maybe some things should best stay forgotten.”





	Torched

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tablelamp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tablelamp/gifts).



It was a beautiful day in Arendelle. The season had changed to autumn now, and the forests shone golden with drying leaves as the trees prepared for winter. The winter that was always in Elsa, but which she had now come to embrace with the help of her sister Anna.

The two of them were watching children play on snow slides Elsa had conjured. Elsa had a faint smile on her face that turned to a slight frown when one of the children fell on her nose. She quickly got up again after a short wail, but Elsa’s darkened expression stayed.

“Don’t look like that, Elsa! She just fell! It’s what children do. I fell a lot too when I was a kid.”

Playfully, Anna hit Elsa’s shoulder, but her sister caught her hand.

  
“You did. And one time I was responsible for that.”

Elsa wiped a strand out of Anna’s hair, which she wore open now, with just a half-braid keeping her face free of her mane.

“We used to play like that, as children. I used to make slides…”

“You did?”

Anna looked surprised. Her eyes widened and her hands raised to her opened mouth.

“Oh no, Elsa! Was I so clumsy that you stopped? I know you told me about how father made you wear these gloves, but… was it because of me?”

“No! No, it’s not your fault… if it hadn’t been you, it would have been something else. They only tried to keep us save. None of us really understood...”

“But I don’t remember any of that.”

“It’s because the trolls changed your memories.”

“Kristoff’s family?”

Elsa nodded.

“It was to save your life.”

“But I’m okay now! And I never want to forget about your powers. Any of them! Even if it hurt. Even if bad things happened. We are in this together, aren’t we?”

Anna clutched the vest covering her heart.

“Do you think I could have them back? I already have so little memories of you and me when we were younger… would that be possible?”

Elsa stood up abruptly and held out her hand towards Anna who took it.

“I’ll give you back whatever part of your childhood I can. We can’t go back to those days, and I will cherish every new memory I make with you. But it was my fault too that you never got to have a proper childhood. The one you should have had… carefree and loving. If not with our parents, then at least with me.”

“You know I don’t blame you for that,” Anna said softly.

Soon, Anna and Elsa departed to visit the Valley of Living Rock. It was as if the trolls had awaited them as the Elder parted through their ranks.

“What you changed all those years, can you give it back? Can you return the memories of that day?”

“Is that what you truly want? They are painful memories. And maybe some things should best stay forgotten.”

Anna shook her head resolutely.

“It’s not fair on Elsa to bear whatever burden it was alone.”

“Then what was taken shall be returned again, what memories made new shall be old again.”

The troll waved his staff and Elsa saw Anna’s memories flicker in the air again like Northern lights. Days of playing in the snow returned to being days playing with Elsa’s powers. All of it returned. Elsa flinched when she saw herself hitting Anna in the head. A crystal clear picture before her that had long faded into blurry nightmares before.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh, Elsa...”

Anna reached out and threw her arms around her sister, hugging her tightly to herself.

“Is that what made you hate your powers? Hate yourself?”

“I nearly killed you,” Elsa whispered into the crook of Anna’s neck.

“But I am still here now. Everything is fine now, Elsa.”

It started small. Heat pooling in areas with no discernible origin. Temperatures much too warm for an Arendelle autumn. Burn marks in the furniture, melted candles that had never been lit, warped windows.

“Boy, it really is very hot for Autumn, isn’t it?” Olaf mused. Elsa had given him a second cloud to shower him with snow, even though this was really not a season where it should be necessary. Anna and Olaf had journeyed off to the Mountains because Anna wanted to gather some ingredients.

“I know! Elsa and her environmental advisors are trying to figure out whether she should cool everything down already or if that would make it worse for nature,” Anna said as she was kneeling down to pick some mushrooms. She wanted to cook something for Elsa, something to help her relax from her hard work as Queen. They tried to spend a lot of time together these days, to make up for all those years that had been lost to them.

“Elsa is still worried about not being able to control her powers that much...”

“But you can help her! Like you helped her before! You are sisters!”

“It must be hard for her even now.” Anna looked down at her own hands and clenched them.

“I don’t think I could hold all that power. And she did it all by herself for all these years! It’s no surprise we had that horrible winter. It must have build up over that time. Just… burst out.”

Olaf had waddled away to pick some flowers himself when a horrible scream made him turn around again. Scorching flames were reflected in his eyes as the wood was burning. In the middle of it was Anna, frantically waving her arms as the fire burned brightly but did not seem to touch her.

“Olaf, get away!” The little snowman could barely hear her over the roaring flames.

The little snowman could do nothing but run away, towards the only person he thought could help, Elsa. By the time he had returned, the raging wildfire could be seen from all over Arendelle. It blocked the path to the West Mountains and was creeping ever closer to the castle.

“What happened, Olaf?!” Elsa came running towards him

“It’s Anna! She has powers too!”

Elsa’s face turned to sorrow.

“Oh, Anna… it must be because her memories returned. She must have developed those powers same as I did, but whatever was changed made them never manifest!”

Smoke billowed over the lands and glimmering piles of ash twirled in the air.

“And now look what happened… all because of me.”

“It’s not your fault, Elsa,” Kristoff said behind her.

“I have to go to her.”

“The land path is blocked off, the fire is too strong,” Olaf said while shaking his head.

“The sea, then. I’ll freeze the ocean and reach her like this.”

“You can’t go in this storm, you’ll drown!”

“I have to go, Kristoff, Anna needs me!”

Kristoff nodded and clasped Elsa’s shoulder.

“Go. We’ll made a wall with ice blocks and hold off the fire on this side. Save Anna.”

As fast as the reindeer could take her, Elsa was carried to the cliffs of the sea. The sea was unruly, wild and frightening. But the fear Elsa felt must be nothing compared to what Anna was going through.

She would reach Anna. No matter what it would take.

When she first tried to sprint across the sea, a wave had washed over her and nearly took her to the depths.

Again.

The ice broke under the sheer force of the wave before Elsa could even run halfway up. She barely managed to get back to the shore, the water tearing and pushing at her, desiring to drag her out into the open water.

Again.

She managed to reach the top of the wave before the ice fell apart under her. The air was sucked out of her lungs as she landed flat on her back on the water. It felt like smashing into solid ground.

Again.

Her feet were cut open on jagged rocks she dragged herself onto, desperate for solid ground to save her from drowning.

Again. Again. Again.

The ocean would not yield to her. Would not back down. Would not let her reach where she so desperately needed to go.

Anna needed her! Anna had braved so much more for Elsa. She had nearly died for Elsa, never having realized her powers at the time. All for her! What kind of sister would she be if she couldn’t even save Anna now, with all of these powers granted to her?

“I am coming, Anna!” Elsa screamed into the storm. Images flooded her mind, her few childhood memories with Anna, so few and precious. The memories they were making now, their rekindled bond. And all that would come in the future, the happiness, the life they would build together and with their friends in Arendelle. Power surged through her as the ocean was frozen stiff beneath her feet. She ran and she ran and finally collapsed on the other side of the bay.

Here, the fire was burning high and hot, but Elsa would not falter. The way she had conquered the ocean, she made her way towards the center of the fire, where it grew so hot it was almost blue. That’s where Anna was.

“Get back! I can’t control it!”

Elsa shot bursts of ice out of her hands, aiming where the fire raged too close, threatening to burn her alive. She did well with the cold, but the heat was draining her. It was hard to make use of all her powers like this and she could feel her strength fade.

“Elsa! Don’t come any closer! Just turn around and leave! Block the fire off with a wall! Keep Arendelle save forever, from me!”

Elsa could barely see any longer with the smoke rising from the fire, but she could make out Anna’s voice beyond the curtain of flames. It sounded thick with tears and sorrow and all Elsa wanted was to reach her.

“I will never abandon you, Anna! We can figure this out together! Like we did with my powers!”

“Cold preserves… but this… what can I do with this?! All fire does is destroy!”

Elsa concentrated all of her magic in front of her, and like she had tamed the ocean, she tamed the fire for but a moment, to cut a path through to Anna.

“Fire is warmth. Warmth is what keeps people alive in the cold winter. You are the rays of sunshine in which children play, you are the warm breeze that gently shakes the trees. And when you grow too hot, I will be there to cool you off.”

With determined steps, Elsa walked towards her sister sitting in a heap on the ground. Anna’s shoulders were shaking from crying, her clothes half burned as the ground blackened around her. She had been like this. But Anna had saved her. Now, it was Elsa’s turn to rescue her sister.

“But how could we? It’s like… we are the opposite of each other. Maybe you were right to shut the door on me all those years ago.”

Anna’s tears dripped down onto her palms.

“No, Anna… can’t you see?”

Slowly, carefully, Elsa took Anna’s hands into her own and sat down next to her.

“We complete each other. No matter how different our powers are. No matter how different we are. You are my sister, and I am yours. And nothing will ever change that. We were given these powers for a reason. We were given them to use them together. As one.”

Anna hiccuped from the overflowing tears, but managed a smile. She always did. That is why Elsa loved her, why everyone loved her. And Elsa would do everything that smile would never vanish again.

“Let me help you, Anna. Like you helped me.”

The sisters smiled at each other. Elsa rose and helped Anna to her feet.

“Together?” Elsa asked.

“Together.”

Anna and Elsa raised their hands while the fire raged around them. Magic coursed through their bodies, the gift given to them, finally shared as it should have been all those years ago. Fire met ice and both mingled, danced together, merging into shimmering crystals that settled on the burned land. Ashes and dust rose where the crystals entered the ground. And from the depths, plants and trees rose, as splendid as before and even more beautiful then.

And so Arendelle was reborn and protected forever more by the two sisters and their bond of true love.


End file.
